I Blog, Therefore I Am.: American Idol

, by Abbie

If you haven’t been watching American Idol in the past two months then it’s now time to tune in. The finals of American Idol begins on Tuesday with a Michael Jackson theme which will hopefully give great performances from the 13 people that were voted and selected. With some new twist in the semi-finals we ended with thirteen finalists instead of the usual twelve. The new format with the wild card round also gave us a gender imbalance that sent 8 boys and 5 girls in the finals.

A lot of my early favorites like Stevie, Ann Marie and Felicia did make it even on the Wild Card round. But a handful of my other favorites made it straight to the Top 13 like Danny, Michael, Adam and Jorge. The hard part of assessing and choosing bets with the new format was we only heard and seen most of them with one song and performance. But, anyway, here's my attempt in giving light to these new entertainers who will grace Primetime TV starting next week until May.

Megan Joy Corkrey
Megan will probably be my Carly Smithson of this batch. Megan has always been one of Simon's favorites ever since her first audition in Utah. I like her and her unique vocals. It’s very different from the usual diva voices of the competition. I don't know if America is ready for out-of-the-box voices like Megan's but I hope that she will go a long way in the competition. I even love her weird quirky “Corkrey” dance!

Allison Iraheta
Allison, 17 years old (as Randy kept on repeating), is someone we should all watch out for. Her vocals are unbelievable! So many past Idols sang Heart’s Alone and hers was one of the best I’ve heard. The judges were right when they said that she’s not even putting effort to her singing (altogether now: “raw natural talent”). I just hope that she will not turn into another Amanda Overmayer who became predictable and boring in the long run. Allison’s advantage? Celebrity support like Miley’s.

Alexis Grace
Alexis is a cute little thing who “dirtied” and styled herself just for the competition (Thanks to DioGuardi’s suggestion). Her voice is refreshing just like Allison’s. She got spunk and I am sure that a lot of people will love her and her great personality. I am just worried that she and Allison will use the same styles and sing the same stuff. Unfortunately for Alexis - Allison is the better singer by at least two notches.

Lil Rounds
Lil’s one of the most pimped contestants this year since the early auditions. She seemed nice but I am not buying her whole big voice stuff. It’s very usual, mainstream and it’s dime a dozen. She will surely go a long way (as high as Top 3 maybe) but I am truly not a fan. Her sob story rivals the one of Gokey's so it's fun to see who will get more emo air time between the two pimped finalists.

Jasmine Murray
Jasmine is definitely my Kristy Lee "what are you still doing here?" Cook for this year. I still can’t forgive her for bombing Sarah Barailles' "Love Song" and for wearing wrong eye make-up week after week that makes her look alien-y. Hope she gets the first boot! Her spot should have been Ricky Braddy's or Jesse Langseth's (or even Ju'not's. Felicia's or Mishavonna's). Case in point: there are way better singers than her in the Top 36.

Anoop Desai
Anoop’s journey to the Top 13 was special, suspense-laden and dramatic that made everyone asked "Gokey, who?". It was such a sweet victory for this "Dogg" and I cannot help but be happy for him. He may not be the best singer of the group but he's definitely one of the most likable. He may not give us the best performance each week but he will surely give us entertainment. I can't wait to see more of Anoop! Remember: American Idol is not just a talent show...it's foremost a TV show!

Adam Lambert
I heart Adam and his gayness! His YouTube vids are certified VoteForTheWorst material; but I'm hoping against hope that he will be careful and just stick to what he got now. He’s also capable of pulling a Tatiana so let's watch out for lapses like that. Adam’s vocals are just to die for. He’s really talented and I will not be surprised if he is the next American Idol. He got the chops! He’s also fierce and doesn’t give a crap on what people think. Proof? He’s still googling himself! He doesn't give an F on those leaked kissing pictures.

Danny Gokey
I have this thing for unique voices this year so one of my obvious picks is Danny (and not because of his sob story). This Robert Downey, Jr. Jr. dude can really go places with his ala David Cook last-big-note voice. Definitely one of the people to watch out for – dead wife or not, over-pimped or not, front-runner or not. Another thing to look forward to? Danny's American Idol glam-up make-over! Can't wait!

Jorge Nunez
Jorge is the male Latino version of Brooke White. I noticed him as early as his audition in Puerto Rico. I really love this guy and his voice (accent or no accent). The cry-fest at the end of his semi-final song made a lot of moms swoon (but I think he’s gay). Puerto Rico is so proud and leading the pack of supporters are J Lo and Marc Anthony who even SMSd Jorge their encouragement through Ryan. He’s definitely their saving face for all the drama that Tatiana created.

Kris Allen
Kris is the underdog of the Top 13. He himself was surprised that he was able to sneak in from favored contenders like Matt & Megan in Round 2. He have to really wow America to keep him from being voted early on. But he's cute and is dubbed as this year's heartthrob so he might go places. Do we see another Castro in the making? Seriously, his version of "Man In The Mirror" is way better than Giraud's "Viva La Vida". I wonder why people were so surprised he is in the Top 13.

Michael Sarver
Oil rigger Michael actually has a great voice but it was overshadowed by his genuinely nice personality. He suffered an Internet backlash just recently from Anoop’s 20,000 vote difference in round 2. I will not be surprised if he will not be included in the 10-man Idol Tour this summer (read: Top 11/12 at the most). There are definitely better performers in the Top 13 than Michael. With Anoop now holding the "best personality" card, I wonder where that will leave Mr. Sarver.

Matt Giraud
The gazillion fans and DioGuardi are the two main reasons why Matt was given another chance even after tanking the Grammy award winning song of Coldplay. I am not too solved on him and I prefer Ricky Braddy who got an almost identical style (but a lousier persona) over him. He will definitely give us soul, blues and pianos week after week but he also ~~threatened~~ mentioned that he might try pop. He’s also a bit smug (but so is David Cook so I rest my case).

Scott MacIntyre
He’s out of tune most of the time but Scott deserves the spot to compensate for all the shitty things that happened to him. I also understand the power of the sympathy vote. Need I say more? Mr. Inspiration is definitely the hardest person to boot out from this competition. Let's see how this will be played out.

My Favorites: Adam, Anoop, Jorge, Danny, Megan, Allison
My "I Don't Want To See You": Jasmine
My "should have been" in the Top 13: Ricky, Jesse, Ju'not, Felicia
Who will go home this week: Jasmine / Michael
Who MIGHT be the next American Idol: Adam

Credits to American Idol for the photos.

8Comments

, by Abbie

In American Idol, TV

AMERICAN IDOL WILD CARD PICKS

1Comments

, by Abbie

In American Idol, TV

AMERICAN IDOL TOP 36 SPOILERS & STEVIE WRIGHT

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, by Abbie

In American Idol, Music

RAMIELE & DANNY COMING TO MANILA IN DECEMBER

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, by Abbie

In American Idol, David Cook

DAVID COOK IN MANILA - JANUARY 27, 2009!

18Comments

, by Abbie

In American Idol, David Cook

DAVID COOK'S THE TIME OF MY LIFE

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, by Abbie

In American Idol, David Cook

MAY 21 IS DAVID COOK DAY!

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, by Abbie

In American Idol, David Cook

DAVID AND DAVID

It all came down to this.

David vs. David. Cook vs. Archuleta. Bartender vs. Student.

This is the first all-male American Idol Finale since Ruben Studdard and Clay Aiken (Season 2) and one of the most exciting in recent memory. Any of the two can win this. No front runner, no underdog, winner takes all.

FINALE SPOILERS (AND MORE)

1. There will be three (3) songs for each of the Davids on Performance Night on Tuesday. First will be Clive Davis' song choice, Contestant's choice and the winning American Idol Songwriters Competition song.

2. They can choose to reprise a song or sing a new one for the Contestant's Choice. If Cookie will do a reprise, I bet (and hope) that he'll choose one of his wow-songs like "Hello", "Billie Jean", or "Always Be My Baby". Archey will probably choose his safe-but-effective "Imagine".

3. There are rumors that they can make new arrangements for the American Idol Songwriters Competition Song unlike last year.

4. Top AI All-Star Bloggers like Rickey.org and MJ's Big Blog already made their bets and predictions. Most of them will vote for Cook but are predicting an Archuleta win. Weird.

5. Everyone knows that whoever David will win on Wednesday, Cook will STILL REMAIN as the most successful Season 7 IDOL.

[EDIT - May 20, 7:30 PM - additional finale spoilers from MJ's Big Blog on Tuesday's song choices. 9 hours to go before the curtains!]

6. Archey will reprise Lennon's "Imagine" (See? I Told you, guys!) which he sang during the Top 20/70's Night. This was confirmed by Nigel on Ryan Seacrest's KISS radio show last week. David Cook will sing U2's "I Still Haven't Found What I Am Looking For". Cookie is the first-ever Idol who got a clearance to sing a U2 song. Wow! This was reported by FOX News.

7. The Davids picked their own Coronation Song from the Top 10 Most Popular Songs from the American Idol Songwriters Competition from the 20 that were available for voting weeks ago. No idea which song they chose.

8. Simon in the Tonight Show With Jay Leno said that he doesn't care who wins Season 7 but if he will pick somebody it has to be David Cook. He said that "he's been around for awhile, he's paid his dues". Listen to Simon, America! :D

DAVID COOK FOR THE WIN!

6Comments

, by Abbie

In American Idol, David Cook

PAULA ABDUL SHOULD GET THE BOOT!

It may be "Bye Bye Brooke" but this week's American Idol was centered on Paula Abdul's major booboo last Tuesday night! Yeah, we know that she's a little dim at times and is a rumored alcoholic with her Coke glass containing scotch, but I never expected that she will be this careless. People are now accusing American Idol to be rigged and scripted because of her flub.

The Story
The Top 5 American Idols were asked to sing twice at the Neil Diamond week last Tuesday. The new set-up was the judges' critique will come collectively after the second song instead of their usual after each song.

So the Idols all sang their songs with Jason as the first singer and Syesha at the Pimp Spot. After Syesha's "Hello Again" (which I think was good), Ryan Seacrest called everyone on stage and asked the judges to quickly say what they think of the first round of performance. Randy said his piece first which were all quick one-liners. When it was Paula's time, she immediately complained that it was not easy since they now have to write their comments which they never had before. She started reading her notes on Jason Castro's first song, "Forever in Blue Jeans", saying that it's not good blah, blah THEN SHE STARTED COMMENTING ON HIS SECOND SONG WHICH HAVE NOT BEEN PERFORMED YET. All the people were shocked and you can see Simon rolling his eyes! So what happened? Is the show scripted all this time? Ryan, Simon and Randy had to pitch in and cover for her mistake with excuses! Terrible, terrible mistake! Her alibi? She was reading David Cook's critique and mistook it for Jason's 2nd song!

Watch it all here.

American Idol had to do damage control so they asked Ryan to interview Paula and explain on his radio show yesterday morning before the elimination night. She said that there were some mix-up and she saw Jason's dress rehearsal for his second song, "September Morn'" thus she had notes for it. Whatever. Aren't they suppose to judge the actual live performance and not anything else? Hear the interview through Rickey.org. Click here to be redirected.

Oh well. There goes the "reality" on these reality shows! It reminded me of the result of Pinoy Big Brother Celebrity Edition 2! Hah!

As for the Idols, it seems that Simon is right when he said that Syesha is the dark horse of this competition. Her performances last night were good and she was way better than David Archuleta who had several vocal and pitch problems on his two songs. David Cook was amazing as usual and Jason's fans are all making sure that he stays on the game (or was it coincidence that Paula's booboo was Jason's gain?). As for Brooke, well, she should have gone last week and not Carly. I love her better than Syesha but the eliminations are getting weirder and weirder each week. Up next week is Rock n' Roll Hall of Fame Night. A pretty biased theme, huh?

Check out my Carly Page and David Cook Page at Multiply which contains all of their AI studio tracks.

Credits to greateggs for the video and to Rickey.org, your best Idol resource.

5Comments

, by Abbie

In American Idol, David Cook

THE IDOLS & MARIAH

This is a delayed post. I was supposed to post this after watching the Mariah Carey night of American Idol last Tuesday (Wednesday evening re-run here in the Philippines) but stuff for work came first. I am really really happy that KLC finally got the boot. I was in a meeting when I got the news from Jang via SMS. Finally!

Anyway, here's my take on the Mariah Carey Week and the Top 7's performances. This was written evening of April 16, Manila Time.

I am supposed to be working on some proposals and communication plans for work but here I am blogging. I am actually multi-tasking. I am working, surfing the Internet and watching American Idol all at the same time.

I’ve been excitedly waiting for the Mariah Carey Week for days so I might as well blog about my thoughts on the actual outcome of the show and my take on it.

On Mariah
I am not really a fan of Mariah but I have some of her songs in my iPod. I like some of her songs and I hate some of them. But I am really looking forward for tonight's show since I am familiar with most of her music. Mariah was actually a good mentor for the Idols unlike Dolly Parton who complimented all performers and never said a bad thing on anyone. Mariah actually suggested some stuff to them on how they can perform better. I am actually impressed by Mariah’s “achievement” which I did not know until now. I am surprised to learn that she surpassed Elvis Presley in having the most #1 hits in the charts.

On The Outfit & The Styling
The girls all looked nice! It’s nice to see them all dolled up for a Diva’s night. Everyone's in dress and had good styling! Kristy Lee Cook was uber-beautiful and she can already start appearing in cover pages of magazines because of her stunning good looks.

On The Idols
I think that they all did well but of course the performance that stood-out was David Cook’s version of “Always Be My Baby”. I got a lot of SMS from my friends and family all gushing on his original rendition and arrangement of one of my favorite Mariah songs. The tears at the end of his performance and the back story on his brother’s AI visit will surely convince America that he’s truly destined to be on the top.

David Archuleta’s performance of “If I Believe” was also good but I’ve expected an "emo ballad" from him so no surprises here. His Archy Angels will make sure that he will be saved week after week until the finals. His child-like charms and his great vocals (whatever his song choice may be) is a guarantee of making it. I am not a big fan though.

I bet it's going to be David vs. David in the finals...and my money is on Cook. Archy is one-dimensional while Cookie is exciting!

Jason’s all good this week. Not too great but not too blah. It’s not as good as his “Somewhere Over The Rainbow” last week. He’s one of the underdogs but I hope that he would be able to pull through until Top 4 or 5.

The girls’ performances were quite forgettable. I really don’t like Brooke’s unplugged version of “Hero”, which I believe is one of Mariah’s hard-hitting-high-notes signature songs. It was a real letdown compared to the Carey original. But Brooke has always been the nice and genuine girl of the show so her personality might save her. I cannot forget the look on her face when Simon told her his “hamburger and bun” analogy on her performance. Priceless!

Syesha was good but she’s not a very popular Idol (ever since!) so it might be “stool time” again for her despite the glowing remarks of the judges of her "Vanishing" rendition.

Kristy Lee Cook was actually good *groan* (she sang "Forever") but I still don’t like her singing and I want her to go home! She’s getting better lately but I don’t think that she deserves where she is now. She’s better suited in the movies, modelling or something. Hah! To quote my friend Jang: “KLC got nine lives!.”

I am really really really afraid for Carly for she might be sent home tomorrow. Her performance was okay but she could have done better. Simon and the others really have high expectations and they think that she’s not delivering too much. I was actually surprised that “Without You” was sang/covered by Mariah. I am more familiar with the original male version of the song.

Who I want to be at the bottom three: Kristy, Syesha, Brooke
Who I think will be at the bottom three: Syesha, Brooke, Carly

Who I want to go: Syesha or Kristy
Who I think will go: Syesha or Carly